DAILY UPDATE: Core CPI and ERISA while Markets Remain High with Walmart Up

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Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

America’s oldest popular stock index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, hit a brief record high yesterday morning when it traded above 40,000, reflecting renewed hope for the market’s health after Wednesday’s promising inflation report.

  • The S&P 500® index (SPX) fell 11.05 points (0.2%) to 5,297.10; the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 38.62 points (0.1%) to 39,869.38; the NASDAQ Composite® ($COMP) shed 44.07 points (0.3%) to 16,698.32.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) rose more than 2 basis points to 4.381%.
  • The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX) dropped 0.03 to 12.42.

Walmart’s strength fueled a strong day for consumer staples shares. The S&P 500 Consumer Staples ($SP500#30), which includes Walmart as well as companies like Coca-Cola (KO) and Procter & Gamble (PG), surged 1.5% to its highest level in over two years. 

Among other companies, Applied Materials (AMAT) fell 1.6% ahead of the semiconductor industry supplier’s quarterly earnings report, which is expected after Thursday’s close.

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And, Core CPI, which tracks the price of goods and services excluding volatile food and energy prices and is closely watched as an inflation indicator, rose 3.6% from the same period last year. That’s the smallest annual increase since April 2021. On a monthly basis, core CPI rose 0.3%, marking the first time in six months that its growth slowed from the prior month. Other good signs include:

  • Grocery prices dropped 0.2% from March, the first decrease in a year.
  • Health insurance and car insurance increased more slowly in April than in March.
  • A separate report released yesterday showed consumer spending stayed steady last month.

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Finally, Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and a group of Republican senators are moving to overturn a retirement investment planning rule that was finalized by the Labor Department last month. The Labor Department unveiled the new rule last month that would update the definition of an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Manchin and 15 Republican senators joined in co-sponsoring a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would overturn this new rule.

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DAILY UPDATE: ARK and Palantir Growth

By Staff Reporters

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Wall Street eyes earnings, inflation report: It’s another big earnings week with Shopify, Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Coinbase, and Crocs among the companies scheduled to report. Investors will also be locked into tomorrow’s consumer price index report, which is expected to show more good news about inflation and raise hopes of a Fed rate cut.

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Cathie Wood and her team have purchased over $160 million worth of Tesla stock since the start of the year. Wood’s flagship fund, the ARK Innovation ETF (NYSEMKT: ARKK), now owns about $640 million of Tesla stock, making the company the fund’s second-largest holding behind Coinbase.

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Palantir reported 20% revenue growth to $608.4 million, ahead of the consensus at $602.4 million. Once again, the company delivered strong profitability with its fifth straight quarter of profitability according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), coming in at $93 million, or a 15% profit margin.

The company experienced particularly strong growth in its U.S. commercial segment, where revenue was up 70% to $131 million, making up nearly a quarter of total sales. U.S. commercial total contract value jumped 107% to $343 million, and for 2024, it forecast 40% growth in U.S. commercial revenue to at least $640 million, showing that companies are starting to adopt an Automated Investment Plan.

On the bottom line, adjusted earnings per share doubled to $0.08, beating analyst estimates, as the company nearly held operating expenses flat once again, and guidance was solid as well.

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THE U.S. DOLLAR: It is Strong!

By Staff Reporters

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The dollar’s still strong—and recent earnings reports have reflected that, for better or worse.

Around this time last year, earnings took a significant forex hit. Power players like Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble said the strong dollar hurt profits, while others, like Microsoft, cited currency fluctuations in lowered forecasts.

Back then, the dollar was at a 20-year high. In recent months, the dollar has stayed relatively high as a string of economic data suggested interest rates will stay elevated—at least for now. And after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested the Fed might have to keep raising rates, the US dollar index climbed to its highest since June 1st.

In any case, foreign exchange rates are yet again cropping up as a talking point in recent earnings reports.

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INFLATION: The Interest Rate Balancing Act

By Staff Reporters

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Whether we’ll see another interest rate increase soon depends on what happens between now and the Fed’s next meeting in September. Jerome Powell will be watching to see if consumer prices come down more than they already have, thanks to previous rate hikes.

There are some promising signs that the worst is behind us:

  • Tomorrow, when the government releases the latest personal consumption expenditures price index—the Fed’s preferred measure for tracking inflation—it’s expected to show the lowest inflation increase since the end of 2021. And last month, the consumer price index showed inflation fell to 3%, which is above the Fed’s 2% target but an improvement from last June’s 9.1%.
  • Meanwhile, Coca-Cola—whose prices were 10% higher last quarter compared to Q2 2022—said it’s done marking up drinks for the year, and the CFO of Unilever said the packaged goods giant’s price inflation has peaked (though prices may still get higher).

But the FOMC wants more: Chairman Powell said that for inflation to be truly conquered, the job market, which currently boasts a low unemployment rate of 3.6%, will need to slow.

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